Contre-amiral Thierry Victore’s ad-hoc squadron has been in pursuit of an enemy Royal Navy ship heading towards the safety of its waters. Aboard the ship was a passenger carrying vital intelligence of great importance to The Directoire. Capitaine Géroux’s mission…

Capitaine de frégate Josepe Aurèle Géroux had been pursuing the English frigate for several days now, but finally he had outthought his foe and was almost upon them. His command, the Dryade (a 36-gun Frigate of the Republic) was in…

Last Wednesday we had our third game of the Battle of Berwick in 1938 during the Very British Civil War. The game was played on the amazing table created by Hugh Wilson. We used again the Bolt Action rules with the special use of Night Fighting rules for the first six turns.

2. The Game. Gra.

For the first six turns we used the special Night Fighting rules comes from the Bolt Action supplement Battleground Europe. The idea of that were first, to help Anglian forces to made their way through the Bridges and from the second, to check this rules how they works. Anglian forces during the night managed to clear the second Bridge and take the Rail Station, but they were stopped at the warehouse and pushed back to the Station. This finished the night and Scots decided to call for the airplane with the first daylight…

Believe or not, but the plane again hit his own troops for the third time during our whole game! My units suffered the most as I lost the cavalry unit and rest of them were hardly pinned, what allowed Anglian soldiers to cross the Road Bridge but then rest of my units stopped them and forced them back. The same happend with the attack on the Foot Bridge. Anglian Forces has been pushed back and those units who crossed the bridge become annihilated.

The special place in this relation should have the Navy troops and their surprise tactic. During whole game they were climb on the Berwick walls, then stay there for the turn on two, and then move back off the wall and repeat whole process again and again till the end of the game… Weird…

The most fierce battle was about the Station and the Warehouse. During the night Anglian took the Station but then they were pushed back by Scots. Next comes the Guards. The Veterans for the first time cleared the whole Station and attacked the Warehouse where they had been beaten by Scottish defenders. The next unit of Fascist tried to take the Warehouse again, but again was destroyed by defenders. Then Scots received reinforcements and managed to bring the unit of infantry, who retake the part of the station, so when the game finished, half of the Station was in Anglian hands and half in Scottish.

3. Summary. Podsumowanie.

The game finished with the draw in my opinion, because the Berwick itself has been defended (we still awaited for another tank and the AT gun), however Scotts will not be able to keep this town against new assault and new forces, so possibly next game would finished with Anglian victory and retaking the Berwick.

“Voila Grouchy!…not.”Here we go for the next exciting installment!This episode will show my ability to cope (or not) in extremis, as well as the arrival of the Prussians on the board. Also the pressure builds up in the centre and the crisis point is …

Ahoy there shipmates, we’re setting sail with Sails of Glory! That’s right, hopefully there is finally a playable, fun, Age of Sail ruleset – and it features ready painted ships for those who just want to get into playing… After…

Last Thursday we have started our campaign game Caen 1944. It is 10 players game (5 for Allies and 5 for Germans). All campaign rules has been set up by John Glass. For all games we will be using the Bold Action rules. We agreed the 1200/1500 pts forces. I have joined the Allied with my 28mm Poles.

2. Introduction. Wprowadzenie.

Allied safely landed in Normandie. So far they stuck on the beaches, however they started to move inland. They first big objective was town of Caen. Marshal Montgomery (Donald Adamson) prepared his plan and gave his orders to his troops. One of them was to outflank the town from the west. This was the task for British forces(Ian Carter) and the Poles (Bartek Żynda).

My Poles started at the Gold Beach and moved towards Bretteville, where they met the British under the command of Ian Carter (they attacked from Juno Beach). The way to Caen was blocked by German forces commanded by Campbell Hardie and John Glass. The battle has started…

3. The game. Gra.

This will be rather short report from the game. I can only said that it was so busy game, that I only made few pictures from them. Germans decided to defend only two objectives from three and left one without any protection. Game started with very accurate Royal Navy bombardments. Germans get hardly pinned, however they managed sort this out very quickly. After this Allied enter the table. Unlucky for Ian, he was attacking through the open ground just in front main John’s forces. This hardly pinned British forces, who started losing teams. By losing the teams you are losing the order dice and this slow my advantage down. Shortly Campbell joined John and both started pushing Ian harder and harder. Finally I managed to move my forces towards objectives and finally took the one of them. Now for the victory we needed the central objective. First softened its defends with off table artillery and after this prepared for final assault. Unfortunately for us I badly rolled for the extra turn and the game finished on 6th turn. We managed to take only one objective, so the game finished with a draw. Our forces have been stopped and awaiting for the new orders.

After long period of time and plenty of surprising circumstances we finally managed to play the second Berwick game at Hugh’s. After that, when Scots captured this city, Anglian and Fascist forces decided to recapture it. We used the again Bolt Action rules.

2. The game. Gra.

The Anglo-Fascist plan, was almost the copy of our attack from the previous game with the small exception that the Royal Navy decided to land on the Berwick beach instead of the Docks and in that way they got an extra naval guns support. The rest of troops were attacking the three bridges. However Scots have prepared themselves for that and all bridges had obstacles.

The biggest progress during the battle did royal Navy. They managed to land, remove the troops defending the city walls, however they never made the way through to the city, as they met some resistance here with Armoured Car and some infantry.

The hardest fight were about the Rail Bridge. Anglo-Fascist forces managed to remove the obstacles from the bridge and almost cross it. Some troops landed on the second bank of the river but has been destroyed by Rail Station defenders. Finally Scots stopped the enemy progress in that place and that part of Berwick was safe.

The other two bridges remain undefeated, however one bridge was unblocked. The Anglian forces were surprisingly attacked by own plane and hardly pinned (few turns before it happend, Scotish plane attacked own troops in the castle…). That helped to defend the rest the bridges and the town. Berwick remain in Scotish hands. Game will be continued…

One of the personal challenges I set myself, and have regularly failed, is to build a new 1500/1750 point army for each book that comes out. Nachtjäger is really testing both my ability to put time aside, as well as just committing to one list.

Looking at the releases there are three things that really stand out to me; Comets, IR Panthers and Jagdpanthers, and the FlaK Wagons. Comets have a nice blend of stats that really appeal to me; the speed of a light tank which will let them bounce from terrain piece to terrain piece, then push around the flanks. A comparable gun to the Panther – AT14 just gets the job done most times, especially when combined with the ability to push the flanks. Semi-indirect fire – I’ve always wanted to run an army with this because I find it so challenging to face. Front Armour 7 – not a huge value but enough to keep enemy medium tanks honest by bouncing half of their shots. Plus I get to put yellow and black decals on them!

Panthers and Jagdpanthers are just awesome, and I don’t currently have a company painted so the plastic kit is really my chance to finish one. I’d be going with the hypothetical “Solution B” IR option because I think it looks cool and would make the army stand out.

Lastly the FlaK Wagons… I’m really just looking at the Marine Grenadiers as a delivery device so I can put 4-6 of these on the table. Plus I can use my existing Late War infantry and AA, and it gives me an incentive to paint up some extra items.

Looking at all three models I really want to build lists for them but in the short term I think I have nailed it down to one (no surprises given the post title) – the Comets of the 11th Armoured Division.

Thinking about the lists.

My plan is to build a tight 1500 point and a 1750 point force, with no additional options (at least in the short term) and at the same time maximum the number of models that I am excited about painting.

1500 points

Armoured Squadron HQ – 1 Comet

145 points

Armoured Platoon – 3 Comets

435 points

Armoured Platoon – 3 Comets

435 points

Motor Platoon – 3 Squads (with .50cal AA MGs)

160 points

Scout Platoon – 3 Carriers (with extra MGs)

105 points

Priority Air Support – Typhoon

220 points

1750 points

Armoured Squadron HQ – 2 Comets

290 points

Armoured Platoon – 4 Comets

580 points

Armoured Platoon – 3 Comets

435 points

Motor Platoon – 3 Squads (with .50cal AA MGs)

160 points

Scout Platoon – 3 Carriers (with extra MG and .50 cal)

110 points

Limited Air Support – Typhoon

170 points

As you can see, both lists feature the same units, with just some tweaks as to how they fit together. In the long term I would definitely look at chopping things around but for now I was keen to keep to four platoons. Adding in another two platoons would require dropping both of the extra Comets (or 1 Comet and the Typhoon) and reduce my chances of completing it any time soon. These lists also tick a lot of painting boxes for me; the Comets just look cool and I never got around to doing my 7th Armoured Cromwells. The new plastic British infantry are really nice and represent a nice way to start building a Rifle Company at some point, plus they are supported by the plastic M5s. The new Universal Carrier is fantastic with a new 1 piece hull/tracks/body resin model with freshly sculpted crew figures. Lastly the Typhoon is just cool and I have been enjoying painting a few one-off aircraft recently.

The next job is to work out how this will fit into my current painting schedule…

1. First French flanking movement2. Second French flanking movement3. Concerted French push up the middle4. Prussian advanceAt last, I’m finally writing up the AAR for our massive 200th anniversary Waterloo weekend! I’ve recently returned to work after…

Wofkrieg 2015, our region’s biggest annual Flames of War tournament is coming. This year the tournament is a Late War Italy themed one and our local gamers are starting to get in practice games. And so my friend Wolf and I squared off with some forces geared to this event.

I took my 78th “Churchill Choppers” Division, British Rifle Company. This is my oldest Flames of War collection and it was great getting these miniatures on the table again.

Matt breaks out his skirmish troops from his Napoleonic forces again, but this time to play a rule set that he’s just bought, ‘Sharp Practice’ by Too Fat Lardies, rather than his home-brewed ones. It’s a character driven set of rules, with the ‘Big Men’ being all important in managing the troops.

Tel, Dave M and Jim are the Honourable French. Keiron, Tony and S.O.Else, the Perfidious Rosbifs. A ‘Big Man’ each, plus one extra to command the forces, Kieron and Dave M doubling up respectively.

With only Matt having the rules, and himself having never played them, he took on the role of refereerules lawyer. A simple scenario, capture and hold the four buildings on the table, with those holding the most winning.

We went through the process of rolling the Big Man attributes in full, but ended up not really using them, a good job as could barely read Dave M’s writing. Most of the French must have been related as they were almost all big and ugly.

The first major incident was when fire from Jim’s unit took down a British Big Man, who rolled a 1 failing to avoid becoming the casualty for the unit. A further roll found him to be Badly Wounded, effectively out of the game. His unit now relying on other Big Men to command it, the limited action of the ‘Sharp Practice’ card (available only to the British) or wait for the free ‘Tiffin’ actions available to unactivated units.

A couple of rounds of fire were traded between the parties, and then the crib sheets were disposed of as it became apparent that the shooting table differed from that in the rulebook! These were a set Matt had downloaded independently of the rules and not from the Lardies site.

At this point we also learnt that the main Big Men could greatly improve the firing by adding their command level to it a extra dice if you can get them to activate before the ‘Tiffin’ cards end the turn.

After advancing close to the enemy to get the benefit of cover we decided to charge the two riflemen who had been left out on a limb. Not sure if we were doing the formations accurately enough, but couldn’t immediately find rules on spacing between skirmish troops, so Tony’s force was effectively split into three bits of terrain. Despite being vastly outnumbered they still managed to repulse us. Rolling better on their 4 dice than our 11!

Meanwhile the main British Big Man, who had a strong resemblance to another fictional Rifleman, had made his way to the leaderless unit and was getting them firing with effect again. The other French continue to move up, but at this point the game ended with two buildings each.

A quick review of the rules at the end showed we were still doing a number of things wrong, including not accounting for the deduction in movement caused by Shock points remaining on the unit. Plus the ‘Tiffin’ cards might not have been done correctly, with us using separate ones for each side.

People thought it was an enjoyable game despite our inexperience, and it started to flow a bit better towards the end as we got use to the all important activationcommand choices and what they meant.¶

This week Wednesday at Hugh’s was about Very British Civil War. In this scenario prepared by Tim Watson Scots supported by Anglian and Navy had to take Berwick upon Tweed from Fascist hands. That was the introduction for next few games. We used the Bolt Action rules for this game with a variety collections of figures on the magnificent table created by our host, Hugh Wilson.

1. Forces. Siły.

The list will be added later.

Lista zostanie dodana później.

2. The game. Gra.

We, as the attackers spread our forces in three groups. The first, under the Tim Watson, was going to take the Berwick Castle and then attacking the Station. The second group (under command of Colin Jack) on the trucks was going to take the Rail Bridge and the Road Bridge and then take the Station and the third group under mine command was attacking from the Sea and take the Docks, then the Foot Bridge and then tried to take the Berwick. The first wave will be later supported with Anglian reinforcements. Cunning plan!

Tim’s forces stuck in front of the Castle (defended by Dave), however after fierce battle he managed to take it. This was over his success, because he was hit by heavy fire from the Station. This broke his troops and the Fascist retaken the Castle.

I had two options. The first was to assault the Berwick or the Docks. If I would decided for option one I could get artillery support from the Navy, but the second looked much more safe and I decided to take the Docks first, which undefeated was very easy target. The problem started at the Foot Bridge. My recce motorbike get under heavy fire from the town, when it tried to cross the foot bridge and I know that I had to find some other way to complete my orders. I send two sailor cross the river to bring the boats and decided to create bridgeheads on the other side of the river and then attack town from three directions… The town and bridges were defended by Bill Gilchrist and Ray Neal.

When I was stuck at the Foot Bridge, Colin and his troops moved slowly and tried to take the positions before attacking the big bridges. Unexpectedly he met two Fascist strongholds on the other side of the river. The first was taken very quick but the second, defended by Policemen took him a lot of time. Finally he managed to take the second one we were ready to cross the river…

One of my Sailor managed to cross the river and bring the boat back. At this time our reinforcements arrived and we finally get some heavy support. Colin and I get some tanks which moved towards the bridges. One of my Navy squad crossed the river ad created the bridgehead and my cavalry in very crazy charge crossed the foot bridge, destroyed the gun and then get under fire of Fascist women with SMGs… No chances for the Cavalry… The tanks met some armoured opponents, but their fire has very unsuccessful and our tanks won the fight. Colin’s forces cleared with the long range fire cleared the Station and were able to take both big bridges. My forces stuck again at the foot bridge, but the reinforcements arrived with a big number and it was matter of time when the Berwick finally fall to our troops…

Yesterday, in our club, we had our postponed Sudan game. We used some new figures from Bill’s and Campbell’s collections. We used the the Black Powder with some special rules from the Blood on the Nile supplement (the full review from that book will find place in another post).

1. Forces and orders. Siły i rozkazy.

BRITISH/BRYTYJCZYCY

The supply column heading south from a zariba encampment is to get to the Fort Atbarah before continuing south. Supplies are getting low but this has been expected and the Fort will replenish them before continuing. Rumours abound in the market places by the Nile that there are Mahdists coming North. These are of course dismissed as fanciful and unlikely…Kolumna zaopatrzeniowa podąża na południe z obozowiska osłoniętego zaribą by dotrzeć do Fortu Atbarah przed dalszą podróżą na południe. Zapasy się kończą, jednak zostało to przewidziane i w forcie zostaną one uzupełnione. Pogłoski głoszone na rynku nad Nilem mówią o zbliżających sie od północy Mahdystach, jednak traktowane są one jako dziwaczne i mało prawdopodobne…

If the Fort in unobtainable a minor victory may be gained be returning to the zariba where you may hold until supplied from the rear.

Special Rules:

ONE unit MUST remain in the vicinity of the zariba to secure the rear. No more than 3 moves away from it at any time.

Heliograph Team (should a successful communication be made it will give the column a free move – no unit using this may attack during this free move – it represents a sense of urgency to get to the fort). May only be used once.

MAHDISTS/MAHDYŚCI

(Bill Gilchrist, Campbell Hardie)

The British have establish a supply line to the south and have set up a position at Atbarah, near where the Atbarah river joins the Nile. There is a small unit of British troops there based with some Egyptians in support. The Mahdists, seeking to disrupt the supply lines have moved around the main forces heading south to relieve Khartoum and are planning to attack the fort and kill everyone in it. Rumours of another Infidel force coming south abound and the hope is to inflict heavy casualties on them as well to weaken any reinforcements.

In the meanwhile, Mahdists were very close to enter the Fort, but the fire from the walls and from their back (from my front forces) broke entire attacking forces. That was enough to force them to withdraw. The Fort was saved and my column had the free way to the fort. The game finished with British victory!W międzyczasie Mahdyści byli juz bardzo blisko by wedrzeć się do Fortu, jednak ogień z murów i od tyłu (od mojej czołowej kolumny) złamał ich atak. to wystarczyło by zmusić ich do wycofania się. Fort został uratowany, a moja kolumna miała drogę wolną. Gra została zakończona brytyjskim zwycięstwem!

3. Summary. Podsumowanie.

It was first game when I used the brigade square tactic and it is great. You move very slowly, however it gives you three supports during the melee – that saved my gun, which otherwise would be destroyed. My left flank cavalry get embarrassing defeat, twice being destroyed by warband with the spears, it not suppossed been happend, however was very historical possible. Mahdists made two big mistakes. They should attack the column with bigger forces and attack it from both sides and the Fort should be attacked from the side where the Egyptian were. This possible would stop the column and allow Mahdists to enter the Fort. To była pierwsza gra, w której użyłem taktyki czworoboku brygady i jest ona bardzo dobra. Poruszasz się dość powoli, jednak w przypadku walki wręcz daje to trzy wsparcia – to uratowało mój karabin, który w innym wypadku zostałby zniszczony. Kawaleria z mojej flanki doznała zawstydzającej porażki z rąk wojowników z włóczniami, to się nie powinno wydarzyć, jednak historycznie było to bardzo możliwe. Mahdyści popełnili dwa poważne błędy. Powinni skierować przeciwko kolumnie większe siły i zaatakować ją z dwóch stron a fort powinien być zaatakowany od strony pozycji egipskich. To prawdopodobnie spowodowało by zatrzymanie kolumny i wdarcie się Mahdystów do fortu.

My first unit completed this year. Finished them last week but only just got around to posting. Another beautiful summer day at the Woolshed. A unit of Royal Navy Sailors on shore duty. These figures are from Brigade Games and are wonderful little miniatures. I only wish I had the skill and patience to do … Continue reading 28mm Royal Navy Landing Party (Brigade Games)→

When you play the first game of the year, it must be something silly. This time we return to our old friend Capitaine Gerard (this is the favourite hero of Donald Adamson). You’ve already met him once, however it was some time ago (so to remember the story check this link). This game was played last Wednesday at Hugh Wilson’s with a decent number of players. We used Black Powder rules with new break test prepared by Bill Gilchrist.

In our game French and British was going to clash about incoming convoy. Both sides want them for their own, however the French were quicker and prepared the ambush. All units had to deployed in seven forests. They could only been activated by Capitaine Gerard, however they were able to defend themselves. We had no idea of where the Brits or the convoy will enter the table. According to this I (as Capitaine Gerard) placed all our infantry in three forests on the possible entry points of the convoy. Our cavalry was left in the middle of the table, to activate them when we will know where the convoy is. That was the plan…

Everything started exactly as I supposed. We stopped infantry, but the British cavalry broke through our blockades. But we did not worried about this – to stop cavalry we had our cavalry. That what we thought. Bill, who lead our cavalry hadn’t good day that day. He lost both of his units and now our situation wasn’t very good as we cannot support Dave, who unexpectedly found himself closest to the convoy. He was outnumbered by Tim’s and Jim’s forces. After the long fight his forces were destroyed and the convoy get into British hands. On the other side of the forces French stopped the British soldiers, however they weren’t able to change the score of the game. So the first defeat during this year…

After the rather erratic results in February 1884 the Anglo-Egyptian forces were facing some great challenges (and some perhaps unrecognised opportunities) in March. Both Eastern & Western Sudan are only showing very low levels of rebellion and not offering a…

Just a quick post before I head off to Drouin for our annual January Big-Bash Game!These are some of the photos Tim has sent to all participants over the last week and a bit. I’m sure you’ll agree that Tim and the terrain elves have done a bang-up job …

As described in Fire & Sword Turn 04: February 1884 Sir Henry’s column continued South towards Dongola, and at the 3rd Cataract is met by the first supply steamer to have made it beyond the 2nd Cataract. It resupplies his column and brings welcome reinforcements…

Yesterday we had our last game during this year. Michael and Jack are in possession of the large AWI collection and we decided to use them (some of them were first time on the table!). However before we continue with game report I have something new too. They are 2 Russian buildings from Pegasus Miniatures. Here they are:

Now the game. The idea of the game came from Michael, who want to refight the Battle of Trenton fought 26th of December 1776. One of the first victories of Gen. Washington. More about game preparation and forces you can read on Michael’s blog:

In our game we, the Americans (Angus Konstam, Michael and I) decided to copy the Washington ‘s moves, which were in our opinion the simplest way to victory. The Hessians (Dougie Trail and our new club member – I’m sorry I forgot your name), decided to remove their troops out of Trenton and not fight as much as it was necessary.

Our plan was realised with some problems. My division was not moving as fast as I want and to close the encirclement I was late about one move. Michael and Angus did their slow progres through the Trenton and only because of Hessian withdraw they managed to take the town. To win the battle we had to destroy the enemy infantry. I tried to achieve it by push my infantry in bloody hand to hand combat. However the Hessian troops were much better than mine and they survived my attack and in that way they secured the draw. Anyway it was nice finish of the year!

I finished this British casualty vignette just now at 10pm on New Years Eve. Started at 5pm and since then I rescued a lamb from a ditch, cooked a lamb curry (not the same lamb but one we killed two weeks back), drank half a bottle of Merlot and have made a dent in a … Continue reading Last thing I painted in 2014→

As well as my Bolt Action Partisans, I am in the process of building a Commando team to fight alongside them. I am also going to use them as UNIT troops for some Doctor Who scenarios that I have been thinking about. As well as the plastic boxed set I also have a couple of […]

“A thin red streak tipped with steel”General Rosbif ended his year of campaigning being mentioned in dispatches!After a year of ups and downs I ended it on a winning note! Andrew B. offered me a game at the club’s Croydon venue and last meeting of the …